Saranac - 5 Reviews

Today was the gay pride parade. I don't see how it's possible to not have a good time seeing hundreds of people having the time of their lives. Free like gay birds, these people did what they wanted, wore what they wanted, and acted how they wanted together as a society. If only every day, people were so accepting.

In between the parade and the after party, I went to our local beer merchant who also sells some pretty good drinks for the likes of the youths. I was lucky enough to find singles, or loosies, of Saranac's black cherry cream pop. I had come across this in my supermarket but it was only available in a sixer and I wasn't exactly ready to commit to that long-term relationship. So I picked this up, took a sip and was surprised. It had a really good black cherry taste followed by a smooth cream taste. While this was oh so cold this was good, but it was a warm day today.

I am an adult at times and I don't chug pop. What's the point? I sip and get the flavors I deserve. As I said, initially this was good and the half dozen of people who co-drank this with me agreed. I walked two blocks and something happened. The syrup congealed and got downright unsatisfying to drink. Everything kind of blended together.

If you want to try this and you want it to be good, drink it quickly or somehow keep it cool.

After the ridiculous amounts of soda we've been drinking lately this is a nice change. Everything has been so overly sweet, and to be honest I've been getting some stomachaches. I need a bit of a break from the sugar. This is a soda with no sweeteners added. Now that is pretty awesome. The Sparkling Organics line is 70% juice. That is something I really appreciate. It's really light and bursting with citrus flavor. I need more drinks like this so I can kiss my gut rot goodbye.

Is it wrong that I wanted this to hurt? I wanted this to burn like the fires of hell. You get a little burn after your throat is thoroughly covered in ginger juice. There's actually a nice smooth head on the top so it's almost like you're drinking a real beer, if you're into that type of stuff.

As for flavor, if you've ever eaten the ginger you get with sushi, you get this.

I was a bit disappointed in this soda. I expected it to be like drinking a melted creamsicle. Instead it just tastes like generic pop lightly flavored with orange and vanilla. It also doesn't help that it's sweetened with HFCS. By the bottom of the bottle the flavor got stronger, but not enough to make me want to drink it again.

Did anyone else's parents drag them to bowling alleys for their league nights? They would drink and bowl the night away, while you would hide out in the arcade area trying to beat Double Dragon? Eventually they would hand you a glass of sugary goodness, that is a Shirley Temple. It's basically Sprite mixed with cherry syrup. It's a child's sweet, sweet dream. Okay I'm going back to playing Road Blaster now.